Today in history
On August 2, 1776, members of the Second Continental Congress began attaching their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.
In 1876, frontiersman “Wild Bill” Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker at a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, by Jack McCall, who was later hanged.
In 1939, Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Hatch Act, which prohibited civil service employees from taking an active part in political campaigns.
In 1943, during World War II, U.S. Navy boat PT-109, commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, sank after being rammed in the middle of the night by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri off the Solomon Islands. Two crew members were killed.
In 1967, the crime drama “In the Heat of the Night,” starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger, premiered in New York.
In 1974, former White House counsel John W. Dean III was sentenced to one to four years in prison for obstruction of justice in the Watergate cover-up. (Dean ended up serving four months.)
In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate. (The Iraqis were later driven out in Operation Desert Storm.)
In 1997, “Naked Lunch” author William S. Burroughs, the godfather of the “Beat generation,” died in Lawrence, Kansas, at age 83.
Ten years ago: Mattel apologized to customers as it recalled nearly a million Chinese-made toys from its Fisher-Price division that were found to have excessive amounts of lead in their paint.
Five years ago: Gabby Douglas became the third American in a row to win gymnastics’ biggest prize when she claimed the all-around Olympic title; Michael Phelps added to his medal collection with his first individual gold medal of the London Games in the 200-meter individual medley.
One year ago: President Barack Obama castigated Donald Trump as “unfit” and “woefully unprepared” to serve in the White House, and challenged Republicans to withdraw their support for their party’s nominee, declaring “there has to come a point at which you say ‘enough.’” Actor David Huddleston (“The Big Lebowski”), 85, died in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
“The trouble with this country is that there are too many people going about saying, ‘The trouble with this country is ...’” — Sinclair Lewis, American author (1885-1951).